Mookie Betts confident he'll return for Game 3 after being pulled in Game 2

Mookie Betts confident he'll return for Game 3 after being pulled in Game 2

HOUSTON — It’s hard to stay afloat, or make a comeback, when key pieces of the lineup are dealing with persistent injuries.

Eduardo Nunez is off the roster. Dustin Pedroia was removed from Friday’s 8-2 Red Sox loss to the Astros in Game 2 of the Division Series early, dealing with his continuously bothersome left knee. And Mookie Betts was pulled as well, because his his left wrist flared up.

He’s confident he’ll be able to return for Game 3 on Sunday, when the Sox will try to avoid a sweep. He said he'd be able to play Saturday, if the Sox had a game.

“It’s just one of those things, it’s going to take time to heal,” Betts said. “It can’t get worse. But like I said, it’s going to take time to heal. We don’t have that kind of time right now.”

Betts flied out to left in the top of the eighth inning and was visited by a Red Sox trainer during the at-bat. He did not take the field for the bottom of the eighth, with Rajai Davis taking his place.

“It was just a swing,” Betts said. “It happened so fast, I’m not exactly sure why or makes it happen. Just a little twist to my wrist. Honestly, I don’t know. I just know certain pitches, certain swings trigger it.”

Betts said he went for a cortisone shot on the left wrist recently. Betts has had trouble with both his right and left hand areas, dealing with a bone bruise on the right.

Give the Red Sox time, patience can pay off

Give the Red Sox time, patience can pay off

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — If the lineup looks the same on Opening Day, set off on a tantrum. For now, just keep your anger primed in the queue. Maybe even prepare for an eventuality of relief and excitement.

Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is moving with discipline. Even if some of his process this winter has been questionable, he’s still taking a measured approach rather than setting a match to an already shriveling farm system and payroll.

Discipline requires waiting, and the lull invites frustration for those who want everything now.

“Even though some things are starting to happen, there’s a lot to still be done over the winter time,” Dombrowski said Wednesday.

He’s right.

As a Sox fan, you can’t have it both ways. Either you want Dombrowski to act responsibly with the sustainability of the franchise in mind, or you want all the big names now, now, now — and are keen on an inevitably disastrous roster.

The Sox have had a lot of big splashes in recent years. They have to move cautiously in waters this deep. As one executive put it recently: “Only horrible organizations keep spending and spending and spending.”

Here’s betting fans will be rewarded this winter with an upgraded lineup to feel good about, even if the Sox haven’t crossed the finish line yet.

“Every time we have a meeting we talk about [timing]. Some players are going to start signing pretty soon,” Dombrowski said. “And some players that we have interest in, we’ll start signing pretty soon. And if you wait, you lose some players that you may have interest in.”

One thing is for sure — and it appears to be getting lost even with big names like J.D. Martinez and Eric Hosmer still out there — just because the Red Sox haven’t completed a deal, they are doing a ton of work behind the scenes.

"I think we're closer to getting answers on some things,” Dombrowski said Wednesday. “There have been a couple of things, calls we've made and heard from people that have eliminated us and some have kept us in there. But I can't say that I'm any closer to getting things done other than gathering continued information — because I don't know what happens with other clubs. I don't know where they stand with their conversations with other teams. There’s still a lot, so many conversations going on, and a lot of different possibilities, a lot of different trade things happening so I'm not really sure.

“I think we've got a pulse of what's happening and I don't think anything's happened that's surprised us so far, but there haven't been that many things that have happened either. A lot of relievers have signed, that's been the biggest thing and that hasn't been our biggest thing that we're pursuing.”

- The Sox were keeping tabs on Marcell Ozuna, the Marlins outfielder who was traded to the Cardinals.

“We asked about him and they called me back beforehand, just to let me know,” Dombrowski said of the Marlins. “So we were in the mix enough to do that.”

Ozuna could have done some DH’ing and also played outfield. Dombrowski noted the Marlins got upper-level pitching in the trade. He didn’t specifically note that the Red Sox don’t have as much upper-level pitching to offer, but that is the case.

- The Sox have talked “generalities” with free agents when it comes to contract terms, Dombrowski said.

- Dombrowski said bringing back free agent Eduardo Nunez is on his radar.